"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." Saint Augustine One of the practices we consistently embark upon in the Change Your Life Challenge is self-awareness awareness of where we are, where we have been, where we are going ?awareness of the difference a day, a second, a decision, or a moment can make. This week has displayed example after example of how much "life" and "future" can fall into the fate of moment. One week ago when I wrote my weekly column, Katrina was another hurricane headed for the South. She looked much like Dennis of mid-July. Now, a week later, the complexion of the United States has changed as some blame and some rally together in the wake of disaster. I don't care to recount details or point fingers, but I would like to offer some simple observations and issue a Challenge to us all in the aftermath of this tragedy. A friend of mine was traveling back from Nashville this past Wednesday. In the airport she heard, much to her disgust, people chatting and summarizing that should have known to leave. As most of you know from a previous newsletter, I was in New Orleans when Hurricane Dennis came ashore in July (click here to read that newsletter). We were advised to evacuate. At the time the evacuation suggestion came, Dennis looked to be a stronger storm than Katrina. I had gone to New Orleans, my favorite city, to "get away. ? After talking it over with other hotel guests I decided I would not "get away from my get away. ? Now believe me, I am far from a storm-chaser. I live in the Midwest and am terrified of thunderstorms and tornadoes. However, after talking with residents and tourists alike, we agreed that by taking certain precautions we would likely be safe. Plus, the freeways were starting to clog and some said it would be worse to be stuck on the bridge when the storm hit. So I decided to try and move to an inside room of the hotel. Like many that day, I sat glued to the coverage, Doppler up on my computer. The storm came and went just East of New Orleans, quickly losing strength upon contact with shore. Excluding losing strength, it in many ways mirrored the path of Katrina. As the day progressed and the storm was officially over, we all resurfaced, happy that we survived the storm. At that point, I imagine the picture looked much like that of those in New Orleans Monday morning, when they realized the storm had moved East and the broadcasters said it could be contributed to nothing but "New Orleans luck and the Big Easy had escaped another storm. ? Little did anyone know that the levy was at its breaking point. The hurricane would be the calm before the storm for the city of New Orleans. I have never stayed in Mississippi or Alabama for an extended period, so I cannot speak from that standpoint, I can only share my viewpoint as someone who loves New Orleans and made a very similar decision six short weeks ago. Last week, I wrote a story about traveling back from Knoxville and lessons learned from a 10 year old and teddy bear . It talks about seeing things through another person's perspective. If you have not yet read it, I hope you will do so by visiting www.changeyourlifechallenge.com/read.htm I also hope that in the weeks and months to come we will practice seeing things from one another's viewpoint. I hope we will give that same open-mindedness to our mayors, governors, state and federal officials. We can all build a plan in hindsight, but it is impossible to build a foolproof plan for what the country has not yet known. And we also must remember, that our officials are elected. If they have not built something, it is our duty to ask it of them. For those who requested a plan be built with this specific set of circumstances, and had that request turned down by elected officials, I could perhaps understand their right to criticize ?but I have yet to find someo |
